1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to microencapsulation or, more specifically, to methods and systems for producing, processing and/or analyzing microcapsules.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use and/or detection of particles having diameters ranging from submicrons to a few hundred microns can be useful in a variety of industries. For example, the chemical manufacturing industry may utilize microparticles to distinguish different process liquids and/or identify ownership of liquid products. On the other hand, the pharmaceutical industry sometimes encapsulates drugs or biological therapeutics to form liquid microcapsules. Such microcapsules are used to deliver bioactive components to target organs before the drug or enzyme is released. In this manner, the drug or enzyme may be directed primarily into the target tissue. A “microcapsule”, as used herein, may generally refer to a droplet of material synthetically encased with an outer protective shell having a diameter ranging from sub-micron dimensions to a few hundred microns. In contrast, a “microparticle”, as used herein, may generally refer to a liquid or solid particle having a diameter ranging from sub-micron dimensions to a few hundred microns. Such a definition of a microparticle may include intentionally and unintentionally formed synthetic and naturally occurring particles. Consequently, a microcapsule is a microparticle, however, a microparticle is not necessarily a microcapsule.
In some cases, it may be beneficial to detect, identify, and count microparticles. For example, in cases in which microparticles are synthetically fabricated, it may be advantageous to identify and count the microparticles during their production for quality assurance purposes. In other applications, such as wastewater processing and/or bulk pumping of industrial chemicals, microparticles may be indicative of contamination. As such, in some embodiments, it may be advantageous to detect and count microparticles to determine the concentration of contaminants within the systems. In some cases, dilution of dyes or taggants may be alternatively used to measure contamination volumes, however, such techniques typically involve a taking sample to a central laboratory for detailed analyses. In addition, some dyes have adverse environmental problems and/or may be very difficult to assay once spilled or evaporated into the air.
Consequently, systems have been developed which are configured to identify and count microparticles. As noted above, microparticles may be used in a variety of applications which have microparticles suspended in fluids such as, waste water processing, bulk pumping of industrial chemicals, and ownership identification of liquid products. Conventional analysis systems, however, often have difficulty in accurately identifying and counting microcapsules which are suspended within fluids. In particular, conventional measurement systems tend to miss microparticles that are moving behind or in the shadow of other microparticles that are in the foreground. As such, quite often, microcapsules have to be removed and collected from the fluid for analysis. As explained in more detail below, however, such a batch-style production process tends to be time-consuming. Conventional systems also have difficulty in distinguishing between known target microparticles, such as microcapsules, and non-target microparticles, such as debris particles and bubbles. As such, obtaining accurate information from conventional systems is sometimes difficult.
As noted above, microcapsules may be synthetically fabricated for a variety of applications. In general, the production of multi-lamellar, fluid-filled microcapsules involves a plurality of processes. For example, the formation of microcapsules typically involves spraying a fluid through air such that a trajectory of atomized droplets is formed. In addition to forming the microcapsules, the production process may include curing and/or washing the microcapsules as well as counting and/or sizing the microcapsules for production control data. Typically, the processes of forming, curing, washing and analyzing the microcapsules are performed in a batch type production sequence and, therefore, are not processed continuously under sterile conditions. More specifically, most conventional production systems are configured to harvest the microcapsules after each process and collectively move the microcapsules to the next process. In this manner, each process may be closely monitored and optimized to perform its function within specification.
Unfortunately, however, such batch-style production systems tend to be bulky, thereby occupying valuable production space. In addition, batch-style production systems tend to be time consuming resulting in relatively low production throughput. Another drawback affecting production throughput of multi-lamellar microcapsules is that conventional microcapsule production systems are generally limited to fabricating a single type of microcapsule, or more specifically, microcapsules with the same composition and configuration. In other words, conventional systems are not configured to co-encapsulate different particles and liquids or, more specifically, particles and liquids of greatly different densities. As a result, the flexibility of the production system is limited.
As such, it would be beneficial to develop a system configured to simultaneously encapsulate particles and liquids having different viscosities. In addition, it would be advantageous to develop a system and a method in which multiple processes of a microcapsule production process are performed in a continuous manner. Moreover, it would be advantageous to develop a system with which to detect, identify and count microparticles accurately and in an efficient manner.